There are a lot of opinions floating around the internet regarding the bathroom situation in the United States. I figured it was my duty as a free speaking American to throw my voice into the mix, via Noise blog. Though it may seem like thesisless ramblings, because it is, I do have a few thoughts I would like to present:​ As of last week Target led the charge of transitioning to gender inclusive restrooms and has lost its conservative customers once and for all, although I thought they had already accomplished that when they decided their toys do not support stereotypical gender roles. Anyway, the LGBT community was quick to cry “transphobic” and yes, I’m sure a fear and hatred of the trans community has contributed to this uproar. Yet the argument I have seen from the conservative side is not one against transgender people but one against rapists who lie about being transgender in order to get into public bathrooms without suspicion. Which seems like a reasonable fear, right? Let’s take a few steps back and examine that thought process for a second.

“I don’t want a man to be able to follow my little girl into a bathroom unquestioned”

So this refers to, I would assume, a man who wants to harm your daughter by either raping her and/or kidnapping her to force into the sex trade. My first thought regarding this, honestly, is that it’s too little too late. I was raised to never go anywhere alone, to carry mace and a knife, and to not talk to strange men. When receiving a compliment from a man I automatically wonder what he wants and I’ve been catcalled wearing three layers of clothing during a snowstorm. I don’t mean to go off on some sort of anti-men rant, but my point is that the problem is not that the rapist/pedophile/trafficker is able to walk unquestioned into a bathroom; the problem is that the predator exists.

My second thought on the conservative argument actually comes from another trending meme on Facebook. It says something along the lines of “You’re worried about the pedophiles chasing young girls into the bathrooms but you never worried about the same men going after your sons.” The fact that boys can be raped is somehow very much overlooked but the problem remains the same; the predators themselves.

My third thought was that people should get over themselves and realize they aren’t entitled to a public restroom at all, but I don’t think the average American can even comprehend that so I’ll leave it alone.

I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before most stores follow in the footsteps of Target with gender inclusive or single stall unisex bathrooms. I, having never been an enthusiastic user of public water closets, will probably make no changes to my own personal habits. You are free to boycott all the bathrooms and stores that you want and sign all the petitions you want, but there is one more thought I have on the subject that I think would be worth sharing:

1,208,753 people have signed the petition to boycott Target as of the tenth of May in 2016 at 6:31pm. That number is growing. What if, just what if, each of those people had donated a single dollar to an organization like the Rachel Project. The Rachel Project, in the smallest nutshell, works to help victims of human trafficking and raise awareness and prevent sexual abuse. Regardless of whether signing the anti-Target pledge was moral or justified, regardless of convictions, what if a million dollars had been given to an organization that combated the root problems? But hey, it’s just a thought.

Not a bad article, but it has a few flaws. One is that you make an assumption that people are signing a petition against target but refuse to donate to organizations that help victims of abuse. Another is that organizations which help victims are fighting the root of the problem. If they are helping the victim, they aren't combatting the cause, they are helping the effect.

You also make the point that people are worried about predetors following their daughters into restrooms, but not their sons. Fact is that because someone is a pedophile, does not mean they like boys. Most pedophiles are heterosexual not homosexual in their child lust. However, you several times point out that they can follow your child "unquestioned," but don't seem to see the problem with making access to potential victims easier. Shouldn't we make the predetor's life as difficult as possible, not as easy as possible?

My last issue is that the bathroom hubbub is short-sighted. The only place that has made it law for anyone to use any restroom they please is Ontario, Canada (I think it's Ontario, I may have my Canadian province wrong). In that law, it not only gives men (biological or other) access to women's restrooms, but also to women's shelters. After all, if you don't keep biological men out of restrooms, but do shelters, you are hypocritical. Now, since there is no test, no proof required for being transgendered, it is impossible to determine if the male walking into a shelter is truly transgender or not. Women's shelters are supposed to be the safe haven for women. But, once men are allowed inside them, the safety is gone. In Ontario (providing that's the correct province), a year after the law was passed a man claimed to be transgendered (again, you can't prove he is or isn't) and walked into the women's shelter and assaulted 4 women before he was stopped... Welcome to the shelter, where we can't guarantee your safety! Won't you come in?

The stance Target is taking on bathrooms is part of a push by the LGBT community to see law passed in the USA to make all bathrooms everywhere accessible by anyone. And that law will include access to women's shelters as well. It will (if it passes) become a law that women's shelters are no longer a place of safety.

You argue people should donate a million dollars to organizations that help victims, but fail to see that places such as Target are blindly supporting removing the safety from organizations that are supposed to protect the victims. So, your argument kind of argues against itself.

All the best,
Adam

Reply

Adam

5/13/2016 04:08:16 pm

Not a bad article, but it has a few flaws. One is that you make an assumption that people are signing a petition against target but refuse to donate to organizations that help victims of abuse. Another is that organizations which help victims are fighting the root of the problem. If they are helping the victim, they aren't combatting the cause, they are helping the effect.

You also make the point that people are worried about predetors following their daughters into restrooms, but not their sons. Fact is that because someone is a pedophile, does not mean they like boys. Most pedophiles are heterosexual not homosexual in their child lust. However, you several times point out that they can follow your child "unquestioned," but don't seem to see the problem with making access to potential victims easier. Shouldn't we make the predetor's life as difficult as possible, not as easy as possible?

My last issue is that the bathroom hubbub is short-sighted. The only place that has made it law for anyone to use any restroom they please is Ontario, Canada (I think it's Ontario, I may have my Canadian province wrong). In that law, it not only gives men (biological or other) access to women's restrooms, but also to women's shelters. After all, if you don't keep biological men out of restrooms, but do shelters, you are hypocritical. Now, since there is no test, no proof required for being transgendered, it is impossible to determine if the male walking into a shelter is truly transgender or not. Women's shelters are supposed to be the safe haven for women. But, once men are allowed inside them, the safety is gone. In Ontario (providing that's the correct province), a year after the law was passed a man claimed to be transgendered (again, you can't prove he is or isn't) and walked into the women's shelter and assaulted 4 women before he was stopped... Welcome to the shelter, where we can't guarantee your safety! Won't you come in?

The stance Target is taking on bathrooms is part of a push by the LGBT community to see law passed in the USA to make all bathrooms everywhere accessible by anyone. And that law will include access to women's shelters as well. It will (if it passes) become a law that women's shelters are no longer a place of safety.

You argue people should donate a million dollars to organizations that help victims, but fail to see that places such as Target are blindly supporting removing the safety from organizations that are supposed to protect the victims. So, your argument kind of argues against itself.

All the best,
Adam

Reply

Adam

5/13/2016 04:08:28 pm

Not a bad article, but it has a few flaws. One is that you make an assumption that people are signing a petition against target but refuse to donate to organizations that help victims of abuse. Another is that organizations which help victims are fighting the root of the problem. If they are helping the victim, they aren't combatting the cause, they are helping the effect.

You also make the point that people are worried about predetors following their daughters into restrooms, but not their sons. Fact is that because someone is a pedophile, does not mean they like boys. Most pedophiles are heterosexual not homosexual in their child lust. However, you several times point out that they can follow your child "unquestioned," but don't seem to see the problem with making access to potential victims easier. Shouldn't we make the predetor's life as difficult as possible, not as easy as possible?

My last issue is that the bathroom hubbub is short-sighted. The only place that has made it law for anyone to use any restroom they please is Ontario, Canada (I think it's Ontario, I may have my Canadian province wrong). In that law, it not only gives men (biological or other) access to women's restrooms, but also to women's shelters. After all, if you don't keep biological men out of restrooms, but do shelters, you are hypocritical. Now, since there is no test, no proof required for being transgendered, it is impossible to determine if the male walking into a shelter is truly transgender or not. Women's shelters are supposed to be the safe haven for women. But, once men are allowed inside them, the safety is gone. In Ontario (providing that's the correct province), a year after the law was passed a man claimed to be transgendered (again, you can't prove he is or isn't) and walked into the women's shelter and assaulted 4 women before he was stopped... Welcome to the shelter, where we can't guarantee your safety! Won't you come in?

The stance Target is taking on bathrooms is part of a push by the LGBT community to see law passed in the USA to make all bathrooms everywhere accessible by anyone. And that law will include access to women's shelters as well. It will (if it passes) become a law that women's shelters are no longer a place of safety.

You argue people should donate a million dollars to organizations that help victims, but fail to see that places such as Target are blindly supporting removing the safety from organizations that are supposed to protect the victims. So, your argument kind of argues against itself.

All the best,
Adam

Reply

Adam

5/13/2016 04:08:40 pm

Not a bad article, but it has a few flaws. One is that you make an assumption that people are signing a petition against target but refuse to donate to organizations that help victims of abuse. Another is that organizations which help victims are fighting the root of the problem. If they are helping the victim, they aren't combatting the cause, they are helping the effect.

You also make the point that people are worried about predetors following their daughters into restrooms, but not their sons. Fact is that because someone is a pedophile, does not mean they like boys. Most pedophiles are heterosexual not homosexual in their child lust. However, you several times point out that they can follow your child "unquestioned," but don't seem to see the problem with making access to potential victims easier. Shouldn't we make the predetor's life as difficult as possible, not as easy as possible?

My last issue is that the bathroom hubbub is short-sighted. The only place that has made it law for anyone to use any restroom they please is Ontario, Canada (I think it's Ontario, I may have my Canadian province wrong). In that law, it not only gives men (biological or other) access to women's restrooms, but also to women's shelters. After all, if you don't keep biological men out of restrooms, but do shelters, you are hypocritical. Now, since there is no test, no proof required for being transgendered, it is impossible to determine if the male walking into a shelter is truly transgender or not. Women's shelters are supposed to be the safe haven for women. But, once men are allowed inside them, the safety is gone. In Ontario (providing that's the correct province), a year after the law was passed a man claimed to be transgendered (again, you can't prove he is or isn't) and walked into the women's shelter and assaulted 4 women before he was stopped... Welcome to the shelter, where we can't guarantee your safety! Won't you come in?

The stance Target is taking on bathrooms is part of a push by the LGBT community to see law passed in the USA to make all bathrooms everywhere accessible by anyone. And that law will include access to women's shelters as well. It will (if it passes) become a law that women's shelters are no longer a place of safety.

You argue people should donate a million dollars to organizations that help victims, but fail to see that places such as Target are blindly supporting removing the safety from organizations that are supposed to protect the victims. So, your argument kind of argues against itself.